Imran Qureshi
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Imran Qureshi
Born in Hyderabad, Sindh, Imran Qureshi lives and works in Lahore, where he studied and specialised in miniature painting at the National College of Arts. He teaches the subject in his alma mater. He has given a modern idiom to what is a rich, traditional art form. Qureshi has exhibited his work at home and in quite a few prestigious galleries abroad.
Commenting on his entries to Art Dubai, he says, “I produced this large scale work while I was working on a series of small size miniatures called Teaching miniature, learning miniature, where I was playing with the idea of creating a dialogue between the traditional practice of miniature painting and my own vocabulary. But when I started working on this large scale wall mural-like painting, my objective was to translate the traditional imagery of miniature painting into a contemporary way of expressing my own ideas.
“In Imran Qureshi’s work, history sets the context, the layers of which are then studiously peeled away to reveal the universalities of marks and cyphers.”
“Loosely painted blue and red marks were filled up with the detail drawings of foliage coming from the traditional, hill miniatures, and then the forcefully drawn lines through the carbon paper and black and white sticker paper dots creating another layer and enhancing the idea of cartography. Colour palette (red, blue and white) indicates the American policies for this part of the world.
“I have tried to comment on political tensions and territorial conflicts by creating a dialogue between the loosely painted images of foliage, representing nature or life, and forcefully painted line drawings and mark making, representing its destruction.”
Unlearning miniature, 8 x 12ft